News, opinion and humor from Somerville, Mass.

Sketchy character hired at Somerville City Hall

2012 December 4

by Dan Atkinson

Buried in the press release that the city has filled its $110,000 Capital Projects Manager position with Waltham Public Facilities director Skip Bandini is news of a much more ominous bent — former Journal reporter and Somervillian extraordinaire Meghann Ackerman has also been hired by the city as a community engagement specialist. Does this herald a new era of community outreach via mom jokes? Will the artwork hanging outside the Mayor’s office be replaced with bong cozies? I myself have firsthand knowledge that Ackerman will devote excessive amounts of time comparing municipal leaders to characters in The Big Lebowski, an activity that is questionable at best. We’ll be keeping a close eye on this hire.

I respectfully disagree, Rebecca. The Journal dating back to the 1800s has always called them Somervillians and will continue to do so. This one’s been around about a decade. It’s also the term used by Patch, Globe and the New York Times and, incidentally, City Hall if you look at news items online. Somervillen is a new hipster term that’s only been around a few years and in my opinion, not yet AP style-worthy. I must admit I have seen ‘Villen used on its own but we news writers tend to avoid colloquialisms and abbreviations.